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ASPCA Rescues 50 Dogs in Bronx Dog Fighting Case

Nearly 50 dogs, ranging in age from 12 weeks to five years, were found yesterday living in the windowless basement of a six-story apartment building in the Bronx. The space, which served as a makeshift dog fighting arena, was littered with crude wooden cages and had the capacity for roughly 100 spectators. Raul Sanchez, the building’s superintendant, was taken into custody and charged with animal fighting, a felony.

Working closely with the NYPD Vice Enforcement Division and the Bronx District Attorney's Office, our team played a critical role in the rescue of the dogs, forensic evidence collection and on-scene documentation.

Also discovered on scene were a loaded .25-caliber handgun, U.S. currency, and other equipment associated with dog fighting—including dog treadmills, harnesses, muzzles, syringes and a shopping cart full of raw chicken parts.

"Organized dog fighting is a brutal form of animal abuse where dogs are exploited and forced to fight as their owners profit from their torture," says Howard Lawrence, Senior Director of Operations for the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement. "The dogs we saw today exhibited scarring and injuries consistent with fighting dogs. We’re determined to protect New York City's animals from this form of cruelty."

I'm sure you have all see/read about this in the news about a dogfighting ring busted in the Bronx – abt 50 dogs. The ASPCA held a slick press conference bringing out cute puppy, after cute puppy being safely cradled in the arms of an ASPCA employee. The ASPCA receives MILLIONS of dollars in donations creating tear jerking commercials "in the arms of an angel" and have a state of art high tech medical facility. Good for them.

What disgusts me is that they say, "These dogs are now safe." Where are they? Well, about 20 of them have been dumped at the ACC, a high kill, extremely underfunded, diseases infested hell hole(which I happen to volunteer at). The ASPCA does some good work, but given the size and scope of the budget and power it’s shameful they did this and are taking credit for “saving” these dogs.

Last night, the euthanasia list was 32 dogs at the ACC to make space for these dogs the ASPCA “saved”. If you want to donate to an animal welfare group, please consider giving to small rescue groups that live on shoestring budgets, take in dogs they(ASPCA) would refuse because they weren’t “highly adoptable”, and place them in great homes.

You say you rescued the dog.....you saved them from being trained to fight BUT they are gonna be dumped into your high kill shelter and euthanized before they even have a CHANCE to find a loving home........

Once again, I am disgusted at you - the nyc aspca, an Org. who gets tons of millions of dollars in donations & whom I once contributed to on a monthly basis, until my eyes were personally opened up. Yes, kudos to you for getting these voiceless Bronx, NY 50 dogs out of HELL, but shame on you for dumping some of them at the already overcrowded, severely germ infested (with multiple highly resistant strains running rampant) nyc acc shelter, as you claim 'a temp shelter facility.' SHAME ON YOU!! Are you really believing that these dogs will get satisfactory medical evaluations, your claim why you sent these dogs to Manh nyc acc? They are barely, adequately taking care of the animals already in their care, nyc acc animals are getting sub-standard vet care!! With all your money nyc aspca, you needed to send these dogs to REAL vets, to get real medicals & network them for rescue groups? Dog Town is reaching out to you, to help these dogs. Or will you once again, do what you did with the young dog Oreo a few years ago, thrown off a 6th FL buildings roof, whose 2 broken legs you had fixed, then you held him for 6 months during his legal hold, but when YOU deemed him unadoptable & aggressive, you repeatedly ignored a rescue group 'Pets Alive' repeated phone calls & emails, then claimed they never contacted you? LIES!! I and many others saw the many emails Pets Alive sent your Org. YOU need to get these dogs back out of nyc acc asap, get them to true safety & return the many phone calls & emails offering rescue help, not do what you did in Oreo's case. @Dog Town, I hope you & many other reputable rehab rescues can get these dogs, help them & not face what others have faced, a BRICK wall. I truly hope ALL these dogs are gotten to true safety, but as long as they stay inside any of the nyc acc shelters, they will get severely, quickly very sick & the many others at these severely already overcrowded nyc acc's will go on their euth list, sooner then planned, for their only allowable reasons (or face losing important funding resources) ILLNESS & BEHAVIOR. NO DOGS IN ANY COMPROMISED HEALTH SHOULD GO INTO ANY NYC ACC'S, FOR ANY REASON! NYC ASPCA- you need to spend some of your very large budget money, get these dogs back out of Manh acc & stop using the already underfunded nyc acc budget money!! WAKE UP NY'ERS & EVERYONE IN THE USA, WHERE IS ALL YOUR DONATIONS REALLY GOING, TO ADVERTISING & MEDIA COMMERCIALS?

I will reposted my comment since it was deleted from the ASPCA fb page. Why did the ASPCA instantly dump these dogs at the NYACC ( as soon as the photo-op was over) to be killed and/or have other dogs killed in their place for cage space? Why did the ASPCA NOT take them to your facility? It certainly isn't a lack of funding. How many other charities have a nine figure annual revenue... Why are all of the ASPCA's "rescues" just transporting dogs to local HIGH KILL shelters?